Wednesday, April 28, 2010

At some blogs I saw posts about the Øresund Space Collective performance at Roadburn. This post is about the pre Roadburn performance at De Vinger.De Vinger (The Finger) is a small bar in The Hague and I was really surprised Øresund Space Collective was announced there. The Collective did only one performance in The Netherlands in the past and now they've played in my home city! Awesome!As I expected, Øresund Space Collective did play a great show. It was an over two hours during Space Trip. An unforgettable experience. But too bad, they didn't recorded all of it, so here's an over one hour recording.What also surprised me was the fact there were at the most 25 visitors at this great show. (People don't know what they have missed or The Hague isn't ready for totally improvised Space Rock!)

It was really nice to see Dr. Space enjoying his music in his fluorescent wizard robe! I hope they will visit The Hague again sometimes. Maybe then there will be a better audience. Enjoy this experience!

A special thanks to Sadness for dropping this in the C-Box!Backwoods Payback is a Stoner Rock band from West Chester, Pennsylvania. This band combines Stoner Rock with Doom and Heavy Metal. Their self-titled album is a nice one. I like the singer of Backwoods Payback, he has a great voice. The songs are nice and groovy, the guitar has a great fuzz so what do you want more? Enjoy.

I’ve been following Backwoods Payback since the Book One release. When this first came out I dug into my pocketbook and got myself a copy. Been listening to it a good deal ever since. On their first full-length, BP gives you rerecorded versions of five tracks from Book One in addition to five brand new tunes. Chris Kozlowski twiddles the knobs here to great effect as the new versions of old classics such as “Mickey Morandini” with its immortal lyric, “I thought I told you before, I’m a motherfucker!”, “Brandywine” now featuring badass organ, “Wide Eyed”, “Hates You” and “Runaway Sinclair” (a monster groove track) all reach their full potentials due to top tier sound quality.

Now, that I’m ahead of myself I guess I should put the reigns on a second for the uninitiated. BP is heavy, tough as nails doom rock in case you’re not in the know. Thundering riffs lay waste to the weak with a dual vocal attack singing and shouting out more profanities than you can shake a stick at.

Oh yeah, a word of warning for those who like their lyrics to paint vivid otherworldly pictures; BP is not going to please you. Their stories of drinking, fighting and taking no bullshit are as blunt as they get. So, if your ears offend easily you’re in the wrong neck of town.

Despite the big, ballsy riffs and rough hewn vocal/lyrical ramblings, there’s a lot of quality songwriting on display in the BP camp. Most of their material gets stuck in my head after the first listen and this new full-length is no exception to that standard. The hooks go hand in hand with heaviness.

All of the redone tracks are badass and it’s interesting to note that they make up the heavier half of the record overall. As for the new tracks, their all well worth your time and range from straight out rockers to slightly more experimental fare.

Rollicking through some seriously turgid rock n’ roll riffs is the drunken, stumbling “Baja 6 Pack”. It has a good deal of groove set to a nice bite of aggression with riffs that stick to your ribs like they should. It moves quickly into the winding space tones of “Bastard Squad”; dabbling with psychedelic instrumentation that adds a drugged out atmosphere to the verses, only to be shattered by fuzz-ridden doom weight in the choruses. The singing is spot on too. I always dug on BP’s vocal delivery as the singing has definite melodic chops interspersed with deadly, moonshine grit.

Southern glory shines throughout the wholly impressive, “You Shittin’ Me?” Big top, bruising riffs maintain a high sense of groove throughout with the taut rhythms adding an extra layer of density. It’s the feeling of reinforcing something as immovable as a boulder. Then to my surprise they slip into a smooth as silk southern groove that rings harmonically beneath a choir of vocals. I thought I had gotten kidnapped and dropped off at a southern gospel practice. Not a moment I expected from this lot.

Digging deeper into the dirt is the boogie rock of “Dirtbike” that makes effective use of Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity’s swing but covers it in the blown out distortion brawl of Earthride. Crystal clear, crooned vocals duel with claustrophobic biker bashing. Jessica Baker’s blues drenched, sludge-y bass lines end this song on a particularly grimy note.

Rounding out the remainder of the new material is the driving southern doom of “Kill All Hell” that features some of disc’s best riffs, along with closer “Penny Driven” which begins slowly with bluesy mood enhancement but then bullies its way to the head of class with additional verbal lamentation provided by none other than Dave Sherman.

BP does it again on this much belated full-length offering. I can’t say that I could see anyone who digs their rock slow, mean and heavy being disappointed with what BP has to offer on their debut long player. They’ve got the melodic, ear catching hooks of COC and Clutch wrapped up with the whiskey sippin’ thunder of ATP at their loudest and Earthride. Loud and abrasive but not without infectious songwriting to make sure you’ll be back at the bar for another round. Glad I shelled out for this one. Hopefully, I’ll get to catch them live someday as I hear they are at their best breathing down your neck from three feet away. (By Jay Snyder at Hellridemusic.com)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Back in 1987 I was totally into Thrash Metal with bands as Slayer, Metallica, Testament, Sacred Reich and more stuff like that. And then there was the album Retaliation by the band Carnivore. I never had heard something like this. It was so extreme, I loved it immediately. From the tasty intro Jack Daniel's And Pizza until the last track Sex And Violence this album was a blast in those days. (Remember that Death Metal was a relatively new thing in 1987!) This album was the best thing Peter Steele ever did. Don't get me wrong, I like some Type O Negative stuff (Especially Bloody Kisses), but I love Carnivore a lot more!If some people are interested in the first band of Peter Steele called Fallout go here.

Under the term "Metalcore" we have a real trend of combining Hardcore attitude with Thrash/Death Metal riffs. But this idea is anything but new, in the 80s that ran under the category “Crossover" (before bands such as FAITH NO MORE, MORDRED, ...) and had bands like D.R.I. and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES as their forerunners. Not to forget Peter Steele’s (TYPE O NEGATIVE) first band CARNIVORE and their ultimate hate fest "Retaliation".

For me this album is one of the best Crossover albums of all times. Here the rough catchiness of old VENOM and the mean guitar attacks of a Tony Iommi are hunted through a wind tunnel and then unleashed upon mankind. And where is the connection to Hardcore Punk? Who knows the super fast riffs knows, right? But with all speed CARNIVORE never forgot to put in variety and used several slower, but all the more brutal parts in their songs. If this album hasn’t inspired several of today’s big Death Metal bands, I’ll lick my own anus.

I can’t say much about the extreme lyrics, because the free beer pressing of Roadrunner Records back then did not have any, but as our chief Alex had told me a while back, the lyrics are very brutal, but not fascist. The CD has been re-done a while back with several (demo) bonus songs. As extreme Metaller you need to know that.(From The Metal Observer)

Saturday, April 24, 2010

This is a real nice birthday present I've got yesterday!Obskuria is a band with members from several countries. They play some very great Psychedelic music. On their first album Discovery Of Obskuria they played mostly covers in their own way. On the second album Burning Sea Of Green they play songs of their own, except for one cover: Black Magic by Slayer. Obskuria play this song in a very strange version, with the hypnotic singing of Murielle Stadelmann. I never heard a Slayer cover like this! Burning Sea Of Green contains 9 great songs and it goes from mellow to heavy! Obskuria has two singers who has diveded the songs. The last track is Burning Sea Of Green, a nearly 13 minute Psychedelic trip with Muriellle Stadelmann as your personal guide. Burning Sea Of Green is an album you don't want to miss. Enjoy!

"Obskuria is hungry for ultimate satisfaction; feat. members of La Ira De Dios and Dragonwyck, they're best described as burning-heavy-psychedelic tone poetry, the roots of those 'symphonic/orchestrated' poems go back to the early 19th century, when music was intended to inspire listeners and to consider images or moods, not to focus on following traditional patterns -- free form improvisation! All 9 songs, except a Slayer cover of 'Black Magic' (transformed into '60s garage-twist), were cut from instrumental one-take jams; no headphones and all performers incl. amps in one room to feel the unfiltered natural vibes of the magical float, to get inspired in marching to the eternal outer-space-plateau as ONE unit.. it's the culmination of violent but also floating rocksound with truly authentic hard-driven 70s fuzz/space guitar overkills and spheric Hammond Organ layers. Finally two fabulous guest singers (male/female) added super-catchy soulful, haunted and atmospheric vocals. The debut album Discovery Of Obskuria, got lots fabulous and creative reviews in 2008 for their mostly excessive long instrumental space-Kraut excursions -- NOW the 5 Obskurians speeded-up most of their studio-performance with the focus to get more steady hypnotic song orientated (die)-hard-rock-tunes; which ended after cutting them into 3,5 to 5 min format, except the 13 min title track, a multi-climax, which epically expresses thee 'farewell to the American dream ? drifting in the burning sea of green'! Obskuria is inspired by '70s Krautrock, Black Sabbath, Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Brainticket, Joe Meek, Spaghetti Western and Slayer. This second album by the intercontinental quintet (Peru, US & Germany) may be seen as a soundtrack-concept-album to express in each song a different scene with an 'abundant' variety of raw energetic beauty plus revolutionary spirit. On low volume it feels like an easy listening album, turning it up it could cause unexpected mind-expansions leading into addiction not many 'modern' rock albums have the potential to bring new outstanding listening dimensions to the true music maniacs and addicts. Obskuria does! 'A new decade of purely emotional, euphoric rock'n'roll has begun to take you back to those days when music still was music!'"(From Ear-rational.com)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Los Natas is a well known Stoner Rock band from Argentinia and it is one of my favorite bands! Corsario Negro is their third album. In my opinion this is a classic. The sound of this album is awesome, just listen to the guitar. There is nothing like that! Los Natas treats you on this album with heavy parts alternated with more atmospheric pieces. Planeta Solitario is one of the best Los Natas songs ever. So the conclusion here is: If you don't know this album, go listen to it and enjoy!

What has six legs, three heads, sings in Spanish, and sounds like a herd of dinosaurs marching across a pre-historic Patagonian beach? Why, it must be Argentina's phenomenal Los Natas, whose earth-shaking brand of doom metal ranks with the best yet heard in this new millennium. Recorded in their hometown Buenos Aires' Abasto Studios with the aid of renowned indie rock producer Billy Anderson (Helios Creed, Red House Painters, etc.), the band's third full album, Corsario Negro, continues to distill their post-Kyuss stoner rock/doom metal with a wash of psychedelic sounds, space rock, blues infections, and jazzy noodlings. Opening with the very amusing "2002" (essentially the main theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey gone doom), the album rumbles into gear with a trio of stunning tracks combining all of the above sounds; beginning with the mesmerizing "Planeta Solitario," rolling onward through the galloping "Patas de Elefante," and culminating in the simply colossal power chords of "El Cono del Encono" -- quite simply an all-time doom classic. The disc's mostly instrumental second half isn't quite as satisfying, but still offers a number of inspired moments by way of the crushing title cut and the quite beautiful, sweetly chiming melodies of "Hey Jimmy" and "El Gauchito." All in all, the dynamic swings and stylistic depth found on Corsario Negro represent a new stage in the group's evolution and will likely convert many past cynics who may have accused Los Natas of owing far too great a debt to Kyuss. Here, they have clearly broken free of these shackles and are forging their own path.(By Eduardo Rivadavia at Allmusic.com)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Here's another great CD Jarmo gave me, thanks again!It is nice to see there is a booming music scene in Estonia. There are a lot of awesome bands over there! One of them is Leech.Leech is the former band of Talbot's bass player and singer Magnus, but this is a lot different than Talbot! Leech plays a combination of Grunge, Progressive Metal and Stoner Rock. The result is great! Tram-O-Gram is a very nice CD. It contains ten great songs with a lot of variety and authenticity. Enjoy!

We've been waiting for six years and it has finally landed! After some fifty live shows and two singles ("Disconnected" 2003, and "Powerfields" that participated in the Baltic New Music Chart last year), "Tram-O-Gram", the first album of the chaos managers and intergalactic progressive metal pilots crashes the sound systems, decks and boom boxes of the fans like a flying saucer hit Roswell.

Four men form Leech, Magnus, Ivo, Erik and Rainer, and as accustomed to Estonian musicians, most of them have their fingers dipped in more than one pie at once. Bassist Magnus is also part of PlekkSaapad and Melmac, drummer Erik has been part of Loom, and Rainer is half the pop-industrial duo RUHT.

The birth of "Tram-O-Gram" was not an easy one. It took well over two years, plenty of laughing gas, trips to various hospital rooms and midwives until The One was found – the peak of the Soviet architecture Linnahall and the legendary engineer Elmu Värk residing within. He put his mighty mitts at work, helping to perfect the sound and creation of "Tram-O-Gram".

All 10 songs and the design of the CD create a conceptual interweaved whole. They are observations and ironic notes of a bystander about a mankind, who wait for a mystical saviour, while doing nothing to stop the demise they have brought on themselves. Postcards from a post-apocolyptic world that might not be such a bad place without humans. (From their website)

Thanks to Jarmo from Talbot for giving this great CD!Voog is an Estonian Jam band. These four man play some excellent Psychedelic and Heavy jams. The album I contains one 37 minute track and it is a hell of mind trip! These guys play very good, the sound is great. Go experience this yourself and enjoy!

Voog (translates to english as ‘flow’) is an experimental / psychedelic / doom band from Tartu, Estonia. The band relies heavily on improvisation, hypnotic repetitions and flowing soundscapes.(From the CD)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Into The Multiverse is the second album by the awesome dutch band Stone Oak Cosmonaut. The first album Out Of Orbit was already a killer, but Into The Multiverse is even better! Stone Oak Cosmonaut plays a great combination of Space Rock and Psychedelic Stoner Rock. The voice of the singer is remarkable, I love that sound. The songs are supurb. The second song Cosmonaut Nr.6 (Valentina Tereshkova) is an ode to the first woman in space. The title track is a song in seven parts and I assure you: It is great! I recommend this album to all of you! You can order it at their MySpace page with the pay-what-you-want idea. So I say: Order it immediately!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Thanks to my buddy Anders for sending this awesome live album!This is the live registration of the Clutch performance at Prince Bandroom in Melbourne, Australia on the 25th Feb this year. The sound is incredible good, but I didn't expect anything less! The choice of songs is great, a nice variety of new and old songs. If you never had the chance to see Clutch, then this album gives some idea. Enjoy!

You know Clutch has a live show that can’t be stopped, hard rocking no-bullshit rock and roll. You know last time Clutch released a limited edition live album it sold out. Quickly. Do not be disappointed this time.

Clutch live at the Prince Bandroom in St Kilda riding on the crest of the Soundwave Festival. The boys from Clutch are performing their Strange Cousins from the West material as well as favourites from their back catalogue of punk rock grit. Just amps, microphones and the crowd. Clutch live at the Prince. Don’t miss it.(From Liveband.com)

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Some moron reviewer from the Dutch Hard Rock & Heavy Metal magazine Aardschok dared to give this album 60 out of 100! His argument was that Stand Up Straight sounds too much like Entombed at the album Wolverine Blues. Well, I see no problem in that! I love that kind of sound. There should be more like this and fortunately there is. The Generals play some awesome Death 'n' Roll and not one of their songs does remind me of an Entombed song. So these guys did write some songs of their own. And yes, there are some influences and a lot, but what is wrong with that? On their MySpace page they said to be influenced by the following: Motörhead, Entombed, Hellacopters, Slayer, Spiritual Beggars, At the gates, Skitsystem, Danko Jones, Loudpipes, Dismember, Tomas Skogsberg, Satan, Heineken, Judas, Minttu among others!!So isn't this an impressive list of great bands? That Aardschok reviewer is complete wrong and he didn't use much words for it. The review below comes more closely to my idea of this great album!

Forgive the cheese, but The General are a Swedish band whose sound packs serious firepower. Most of this “Stand Up Straight” debut reeks of goode ole’ rawk n’ roll attitude (and thrash); the musical violence burning through the album’s 40-minute length contagious and packed with loads of appeal. The slugfest begins on the rip roaring “Blessing In Disguise” where the quartet’s peculiar blend of Amon Amarth grunts meets Entombed grit ignites a fire in the listener’s pants. It’s here that singer/bassist Hednar’s gruff growl first launches from your speakers. Judging by his performance, he’s one ugly bastard behind the mic and it suits the rollicking music to perfection. Call him Sweden’s Lemmy, except he prefers the death metal vocal style.

Next song “The Offer Still Stands” sticks to the same no-nonsense mold except it’s louder, inflicting enough damage until “Punchline,” a pugilistic affair bursting with frenetic speed and hooks galore; it’s the perfect contrast to “The Illusionist”’s muscular unsubtlety. The title track brings on the fury as the oddly named drummer Metalmartin punishes his drum kit without remorse along to the rest of the group’s jagged pace. Horror of horrors, “One Eye Red” reeks of the most ‘core’ with its shameless chugga-chugging breakdown around the chorus. Rest assured, it remains an enjoyable tune, perhaps the heaviest on the album given its laid back tempo and bruisng chunkiness.

The Generals show off their thrash metal influences on a slew of mosh-worthy anthems where unadulterated clean singing occasionaly makes a cameo. The energetic “Portal To Paradise” and “Split Vision, Snap Decision” are full throttle pubic hair incinerators whose verve contrasts the catchy “Trunkride”’s faux tough guy declarations. Album closer “Do It Like The Devil” keeps the fires burning and the listener is grateful the band is in such fine form on their first album. Where multitudes often slip, stumble, and fail, The Generals are in ace form throughout “Stand Up Straight.” Be it their songwriting or the album’s petty details, it’s a complete package. Thank Satan for bands like The Generals.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Thanks to Johnny Walker for sending me this great compilation! And this is what the guy said about it:

A compilation of some obscure/unheard contemporary South American bands - from Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguaycovers a range of styles - Sabbathy riffs, garage punk, space rock, jazzy noise rock, strung out desert rock and heavy blues rock - but can all be fit under the category of "Stoner"

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Fehler is a Sludge Metal trio from Den Bosch, Holland and they play it raw! I like this right-in-your-face attitude! Their EP Adharma is fucking awesome! This is Aggression, do you get that? I'm listening the EP right now and I'm not typing this short review, but I am hammering it into my keyboard! That is what this music do to me! I love it!

I saw these guys last sunday with Suma, Pyramida and Heavy Lord and they did impress!These guys are influenced by Crowbar, Taint, Torche and Unsane. The singer has a brutal and raw voice. This EP has a great sound. Go experience it and support these guys! Buy this EP! Enjoy and get swallowed in anger!

With influences coming from metal, hardcore and sludge, the outlines of FEHLER weren’t quite written in stone when they entered their rehearsal space for the first time somewhere at the end of 2007. A lot has happened since then. After a DIY recorded demo, an unreleased recording session and quite a bunch of shows (W2, 013, DB’s, The Stage, Dynamo, with the likes of Amenra, Kruger, Wraith and many more) FEHLER changed its line up from a quartet to trio, with bass player Freek taking over the vocal duties. As the new line up asked for a different musical approach, most of the old repertoire was thrown overboard and FEHLER began working on new material with renewed energy. Their strongest and most blistering songs to date resulted in a five-track ep called ‘Adharma’, the band’s first professional recordings, done in a time frame of a couple of weeks at the HKU studios in Hilversum. ‘Adharma’ sees the light of day at the end of 2009 through Black Death Records, in the season of long, dark nights. In the meantime, make sure to catch this fearsome threesome live.(From Facebook)

Thanks to João for sending me his demo!Hell Reaper is a one-man project by João Ricardo Pacheco. This guy combines on his demo Stoner Rock with Grunge, NWOBHM and Hard Rock. I must point out that João did a nice job with drumming machine. He programmed that device very nice. I love these rhythms. The only criticism is that with this device it is hard to end the songs properly, or it end's abruptly or it ands with a fade-out. So it seems that the songs are not really off! But don't let that bother you!Hell Reaper is according MySpace influenced by the following: Motorhead, Tank, Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains, Alice Cooper, King Diamond and Chrome Division. It's a lot of different styles, but the result is great. The voice of João reminds me a bit of Wino. The Instruments sounds great. So give this thing a listen. Enjoy!

Former guitarrist of brazilian metal bands since 1987 and current guitarrist in Metal band Mother Zombie, João Pacheco started writing and recording songs in his home studio with Rock and Roll, Grunge and Stoner Rock influences in 2008. Influenced by Motorhead, Tank, Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains and Chome Division, and with the great help of his Mother Zombie mate Rodrigo Cândido on bass, the project received the name of Hell Reaper and a 05 songs self-titled EP is avaliable.(From MySpace)

Thanks to George Cyco for sending his fine EP!BadTrip is a Sludge/Post Metal trio from Greece. What Does Not Evolve Must Burn is their recent EP and it sounds damn fine. The guitar is great. The drummer shows some nice patterns. The three songs contains great grooves and nice rhythm changes. It is only too bad there's a nearly two minute gap in the last song! (Mystery track?) But otherwise What Does Not Evolve Must Burn is a great EP! Listen it and maybe you like it. Enjoy!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Ashes is the third album by the Swedish Stoner Doom band Suma. And what can I say about it? That it is a masterpiece! It is after Let The Churches Burn the logical follow up. Ashes contains five very intense songs enginered by Billy Anderson. The songs are on average slightly longer than on Let The Churches Burn. Suma has their own significant sound and it shows on Ashes. The combination of the Guitar with the Drums sounds awesome. This one is the CD version, but the vinyl version contains one extra track.Last night I saw these guys again and it was a unforgettable and impressive performance. The singer stood behind the band. I never have seen such thing. Between singing this guys does some strange arm movements, it's a great thing to see! And the sound was excellent.Enjoy Ashes!

WELCOME

This is a blog for everyone who's addicted to Stoner Rock.All music I post is uploaded by myself or avialable on some websites!If you don't like your music is posted here, send me an e-mail and I remove it.When you download one of my post, please be kind and leave a comment!If you have a Stoner Rock band and you want your music posted on this blog leave a message below or send an e-mail to: riez.stoner@gmail.com

And boys and girls, don't forget to buy vinyl or other merchandise from these bands!